Many marine vessels are equipped with a ladder that enables a swimmer, a diver or other individual to climb out of and into the water. Conventional boat ladders tend to be rather bulky and are often quite unwieldy to set up. Such ladders tend to take up a lot of space and are not convenient to remove and store between uses. In addition, ascending and descending the typical boat ladder can be tedious and awkward. A person weighted down by diving equipment can find using the ladder to be particularly arduous and troublesome. Rungs can break and hazardous falls can occur.